Meet our Team
The Camtree Core Team, based at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge
Dr. Pete Dudley
Camtree CEO
Pete was a senior member of the National College for School Leadership’s Networked Learning Communities programme. As National Director of the previous UK Labour government’s National Strategies for Education he created WhatWorksWell, a forerunner of Camtree. He is a life fellow of Hughes Hall and has been president of the World Association of Lesson Studies.
Prof. Sara Hennessy
Camtree Deputy CEO
Sara is Professor of Teacher Development and Pedagogical Innovation in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, a Research Director of the EdTech Hub, and co-leader of the interdisciplinary Cambridge Educational Dialogue Research (CEDiR) group. She has been researching in the area of educational technology use in classrooms for more than three decades and is an Editor of the British Journal of Educational Technology. She is a fellow of Hughes Hall.
Dr. Patrick Carmichael
Camtree Managing Director
Patrick is Managing Director of Camtree. His work prior to joining Camtree has been concerned with the intersections between teacher learning and information systems, and he has directed a number of major projects that explored the potential of digital technologies to enhance teaching, learning and research. Prior to joining Camtree, he was Professor of Education and Director of Research Development at the University of Bedfordshire.
Dr. Alison Twiner
Senior Research Associate
Alison is a Senior Research Associate with the Camtree team, based at Hughes Hall, where she is a research by-fellow. She has keen research and development interests in the educational use of various digital technologies; supporting effective communication in teaching and learning interactions; and supporting teachers’ developing pedagogy. Alison is a member of the Cambridge Educational Dialogue Research (CEDiR) group, and the associated TechCEDiR.
Dr. Ji Ying
Research Associate
Dr. Ji Ying holds a PhD from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and is a research by-fellow at Hughes Hall, with research interests in teacher professional development, learning, and dialogic education. She focuses on developing and evaluating materials to support teacher-led professional inquiry. Dr. Ji is also a member of the Professional Development Expert Group within the Cambridge Partnership for Education.
Dr. Gosia Marschall
Gosia Marschall is an Assistant Professor in Teacher Professional Learning at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Her research engages with concepts of teacher learning and growth, and her professional work with teachers, mentors and school-based leaders focuses on developing effective mechanisms supporting these processes. Gosia aims to support the flourishing of a community of school-based teacher educators, keen to share their research and expertise in the field of teacher professional development.
Camtree Affiliates
Dr. Ana Laura Trigo Clapés
Camtree Affiliate
Ana Laura Trigo Clapés is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology at UNAM (México). She holds a BA in psychology from UNAM, an MPhil in psychology and education, and a PhD in education from the University of Cambridge. Her research centres on dialogic practices in educational contexts and teacher professionalisation, focusing on the development of specialised dialogic strategies that support the participation of young people diagnosed with autism in regular classrooms.
Dr. Chiara Piccini
Camtree Affiliate
Chiara Piccini graduated from the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) with a degree in Communication Sciences and later obtained a PhD with a focus on the ethnography of communication. She has researched and lectured on communication practices in different professional fields. She is now a teacher educator at the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training (SFUVET). At Camtree, she is involved in the development of resources to facilitate dialogue in vocational education
Emma Hayward
Camtree Affiliate
Emma is working with Camtree on developing online course materials with the Tech-SEDA and Vocational Education teams. She is a part time PhD student at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, researching Further Education teachers’ professional learning and wellbeing. Emma holds a MEd (Higher Education), a MSc (Dance Science & Education) and a PgDip (Psychology). She is currently Associate Faculty lecturer for the National College of Ireland’s PgDip in Educational Practice for FE, a teacher in the Irish FE sector (KWETB) and has been teaching for over 25 years in the UK and Europe.
Dr. Farah Ahmed
Camtree Affiliate
Farah Ahmed is Senior Research Associate at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. She is a member of the T-SEDA team and has helped to develop Camtree courses. Her current project is: Reorienting Education in Muslim Contexts towards Awe and Wonder: The Power of Dialogue, Science and Art. She is the founder of the online Islamic Educator Learning Community, which partners with Camtree. Farah is also founder and Director of Education at Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation.
Yao Shao
Camtree Affiliate
Yao Shao (Freya Shao) is an experienced English teacher from Zhejiang International Maritime College (ZIMC), China. She was a Visiting By-Fellow at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge in Autumn 2024. She holds a Master’s degree in Translation from Donghua University and has over eight years of teaching experience. Passionate about student engagement, Yao contributes to the T-SEDA research project at Camtree, developing online resources to enhance dialogic teaching in vocational education.
Dr. Hilla Tal
Camtree Affiliate
Dr Hilla Tal's work bridges research, policy and practice, and is set at the intersection between educational technologies, assessment and institutional change.
She draws on extensive experience in research, evaluation, and leading collaborative projects. With particular expertise in organisational change, innovation and policymaking, she is interested in how emerging technologies can enhance close-to-practice research and improve knowledge mobilisation within the educational field.
Dr. Lisa Tafuro
Camtree Affiliate
Lisa Tafuro, Ph.D., is an associate professor of speech-language pathology at St. Joseph’s University, New York, and a clinical speech-language pathologist with more than 25 years of experience. She earned her doctoral degree from New York University, specializing in children’s language and cognitive development with a cross-cultural emphasis in applied psychology and early childhood education. Her research focuses on language socialization and learning across diverse contexts, with an emphasis on equitable teaching practices and preschool teacher training. She advocates for a language-focused, process-oriented approach to early education, emphasizing dialogic teaching and culturally responsive pedagogy as essential to fostering meaningful, inclusive, and cognitively rich classrooms.
Luwei Bai
Camtree Affiliate
Luwei Bai is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, specializing in dialogic inquiry within EdTech-mediated science education. Her research interest is exploring strategies to support teacher professional development in adapting to integrating educational technology and AI. As a Research Assistant with Camtree, she contributes to content development, supporting research-informed approaches to teacher learning and professional growth.
Dr. Elisa Calcagni
Camtree Affiliate
Elisa Calcagni is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She holds a BA and master's degree in psychology and a PhD in education (University of Cambridge). She works on dialogic education, especially focusing on how to promote dialogue among pre- and in-service teachers. Elisa is an active member of the T-SEDA Collective and has been involved in the development of the Toolkit since its creation in 2015, including overseeing the Spanish and German translations.
Meaghan Brugha
Camtree Affiliate
Meaghan’s doctoral research explores the intersection of technology and educational dialogue to enhance teacher professional development. She has developed and trialled three professional learning courses in the form of mechanical MOOCs for educators globally, which build on the research of the T-SEDA toolkit. Meaghan has drawn on the findings of her research for her work with the Camtree team to aid in the design of Camtree’s online courses.
Dr. Mike Sherry
Camtree Affiliate
Mike Sherry is a former secondary-school literature/drama teacher. In his first years at a suburban US school and then an international school in France, he wondered: 'how can I improve my teaching?' This question led to career-long explorations of how teachers learn to respond to students’ voices in whole-class discussion and to students’ writing across media/genres. 25 years later, Mike teaches at University of South Florida. For CamTree, he contributes to learning materials on digital dialogue.
Camtree Peer Reviewers